Our vehicles

By the end of the 1950s, several lighter trucks from Austrian production had already been introduced to the Army (Steyr types 380 and 480), while most of the heavy transport and recovery vehicles still in service dated back to WW2 and were handed over to the Austrian military by the departing allied (predominantly American) occupation forces. By that time the rebuilt Gräf & Stift truck manufacturing works in the 19th district of Vienna had developed a series of heavy-duty off-road trucks on 4x4 and 6x6 chassis, and starting with 1958 the transition was made from US-manufactured to Austrian vehicles.

By 1961, heavy cranes for the engineer battalions were introduced, based on the heavy 6x6 chassis built by Gräf & Stift. As hydraulic crane technology was still in its infancy, these cranes were completely wireline-operated, the rotating crane was powered by a 4-cylinder Steyr diesel engine.

The high-mobility recovery vehicle with telescopic crane PK 30,000 T (or simply referred to as “PK 30” by the troops) was developed in the early 1980s to replace the aging Gräf & Stift recovery vehicles in service for more than twenty years. The list of requirements included off-road capabilities (thus a 6x6 chassis was selected), high towing capacity (hence the manual transmission with torque converter) and high vehicle weight to ensure adequate grip for heavy towing applications. ÖAF (the “Österreichische Automobil Fabrik”) had by then already been incorporated into the MAN group, so the resulting vehicle was based on the civilian heavy 32-ton 6x6 chassis, and after trials were completed in 1985 the first vehicles were issued to the troops in 1986. The ÖAF type designation 32.281 FDA identifies the vehicle as a Type F8 chassis with 32 tons max. gross weight and 280 HP engine, “Frontlenker-Fahrerhaus” (cabover design), “Diesel-Reihenmotor” (inline diesel engine) and “Allrad” (6x6).

By the end of the 1950s, the British military evaluated scenarios how to supply the units of its Army of the Rhine stationed in Germany in case of an all-out attack of Warsaw Pact forces. It was generally accepted that all major road bridges in Western Europe would quickly be dropped during the early days of such a conflict, severely restricting any supply operations. Even before the Army officially issued a request, British manufacturer Alvis began development of a high-mobility and fully amphibious truck with 5 tons payload capacity.